Extermination
by Loveably Renarkis
Summary: A squad of USCM Marines is sent to investigate a loss of communication to a Weyland-Yutani facility after a new Xenomorph species is discovered. When things go horribly wrong, the surviving marines do the only thing the can do: Survive
1. Prologue: Infestation

**Extermination**

**Prologue: Infestation**

**Colony World LV-312**

Population: 300

Civilian: 100

Scientist: 86

Weyland-Yutani Security Personnel: 114

Time: 1000 hours

Incident: Start

"Good day, Doctor."

George Andrews scowled at Doctor Aaron Lambrey. The two had been rivals ever since George had joined the Company. Many people thought this a shame, as the two were very much alike. Both were tall, both had entirely grey hair since their mid-thirties and both were balding. They were both considered experts in their field, Biological Research, as well. In fact, perhaps the only difference between them was where they each wanted to take Bio Studies. George wanted to use his research for the betterment of mankind, while Aaron believed the field could be better placed in warfare. It was for these reasons that the Company integrated them into the research of the Xenomorphs: Aaron to fully research their offensive capabilities, and George to discover ways for the Company to control them.

Despite his misgivings about the Xenomorph project, George had to admit that he was excited to be a part of a project of this magnitude. He had already discovered that the Queen communicated with her hive via something akin to telepathy, and was in the process of developing a means to recreate those messages. He was unsure of Aaron's progress in his research, as the two had had little time for their usual banter.

An hour ago the head of Xenomorph Research, Laura Goodman, had personally approached George and requested he meet her in her office. George had entered Dr. Goodman's office to find it empty save for his rival.

"Hello, Lambrey. What are you doing here?"

"Dr. Goodman told me to meet her here. I figured she wanted to commend me on my work. Why are you here?"

"Pretty much the same reason. Dr. Goodman asked me to meet her here."

"I see. Well, pull up a chair, old boy, and let's catch up. How is your research going?"

George sat down in one of the chairs adorning the small, uniform office, "Very well, actually. I'm very close to designing a way for the Company to simulate the telepathic abilities of the Xenomorph Queen. How's your work going?"

"Extremely well, actually. We've discovered that the Runner - the specimen born from four-legged animals – is designed so that heat-based weapons will cause it to explode! These creatures are fascinating. Also-"

"That will be enough, Dr. Lambrey." Dr. Goodman's voice interrupted the rather excited doctor from the doorway. Laura Goodman was a young woman, perhaps in her mid-twenties, but she was the leading expert on the Xenomorphs. She gave the two scientists a quick smile before sitting behind her desk, "Gentlemen, I asked you here to inform you that one of our teams brought in a new Xenomorph specimen."

"New specimens come in all the time," said Aaron, "What's so special about this one?"

"I'm getting to that." Goodman's glare silenced Aaron immediately, "This specimen is different to the others. We have reason to believe it is a new species of Xenomorph. You two are considered experts in your field, and I thought it would be best to get your opinions on it."

"Well, where is it?" Aaron's voice betrayed his excitement. George himself was anxious to see this new specimen, "We'd be glad to take a look for you."

Goodman gave him a brief smile and pushed a button on her desk, causing the wall nearest Aaron to open up, revealing a large room containing a strange alien.

Both men flinched as the creature, which had been on the other side of the room, sprung into the air, flying perhaps twenty feet to hit the glass with a dull thud. George recovered quickly from his shock and moved towards the room, studying the now-crouching alien. The creature, from what he could tell, was half again as tall as a man. Its skin, unlike the pitch-black of the other creatures, was tan, and it seemed to be made up entirely of muscles, as opposed to the skeletal look of the Alien Drones. Its oddest feature, however, was its head. It's skull, unlike the elongated skulls of other aliens, ended in a bunch of flexible foot-long spikes that looked oddly like thick strands of hair, and it's mouth was three-lipped and, from the look of it, toothless.

The creature seemed to notice that he had finished his inspection and stood up, opening its mouth in what looked oddly like a grin before it leapt back to its original spot and, with a roaring cry, ripped off part of it's own tail, smearing the acidic blood on the floor and disappearing before the scientists' startled eyes.

George turned to the gaping Dr. Goodman, "My opinion of this new species, Dr. Goodman, based on what I've seen here, is that it's too intelligent to attempt to tame. It should be found and destroyed."

Aaron immediately regained his ability for speech, "Are you insane!? This thing is too valuable to kill! It should be recaptured and immediately transferred to one of my enclosures for study!"

"Didn't you see what it just did? That thing is _far_ too dangerous to be kept alive!"

Before Aaron could voice his argument, Dr. Goodman let out a piercing scream. Both men spun to face her, and both were terrified by what they saw.

The alien they had just witnessed remove its own tail violently wrenched Dr. Goodman's head from her body. It dropped the head as it leapt over the table and hit Aaron in a flurry of claws, reducing him to a gory mess.

George was petrified as the Xenomorph advanced on him slowly, and the last thing he saw was its bloodied claw reaching for him.


	2. Chapter 1: Landing

Sorry about the rushed chapters, I'm in a bit of a rush to get stuck in.

Extermination

**Chapter 1: Landing**

**USCM Transport Ship, _Verlanis_**

**Destination: Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Standing Crew: 24

USCM: 20

Tech: 4

Time: 0600

Incident: 6 weeks

The cold sleep chamber of the _Verlanis _was suddenly bathed in bright light. Corporal David Harris drifted out of sleep as the cryo tubes simultaneously opened.

As he sat up he looked to his left, to be greeted with the grinning face of his best friend, Private Daniel Jones.

"Man, Ghost, you feel as terrible as I do?" Ghost had been Harris' nickname in the squad ever since their first mission. He was an excellent sniper, and some people said he could sit four feet away from a Xenomorph without being noticed.

"I dunno man. You feel like you were hit by a bus?"

"I feel like I was hit by three buses."

"Then yeah, I feel as terrible as you do." Harris hobbled into the adjoining showers and moved over to one of the shaving mirrors. They weren't necessary, since none of them had changed at all since entering cold sleep, but a lot of marines still shaved when they woke up to put some sense of normality into their lives.

Harris studied himself in the mirror. He was relatively young, in his late twenties, with bright green eyes and military-short brown hair. He was by no means unattractive, but his face could hardly be called anything but average. His body was sharply medium, and perhaps the only extraordinary thing about him was his deadly calm when staring into the scope of his rifle.

Harris turned as he heard someone enter, and gave Jones' grin a returning smile.

Jones was created much like Harris, and the two had often been mistaken for twins. Jones was almost always grinning about something, and Harris found his good-natured humor to be a refreshing contrast to the crudeness of the other Marines.

"Good god, I'm starving," moaned Jones as he stripped off his muscle shirt and boxer shorts and stepped into one of the stalls, "Minute I wash off this imaginary stink I'm gonna grab me some grub."

Harris chuckled and nodded as he stripped and stepped into the next stall, "I agree whole-heartedly. It feels like of got one of those worm-things gnawing on my insides."

"If you're not careful on this mission, you might have one."

As the marines sat in the mess hall eating what passed as food, Harris studied his Squad-mates. There were twenty other marines on the ship, but he only had to worry about five:

Nathan Rigby, a giant of a man, the African-American Heavy Weapons expert could unleash hell with his minigun.

Jason Hawkins, your typical marine: Arms as thick as tree trunks, very little between the ears and a huge supply of lewd jokes. His skill with a Smart gun had saved each man's life a dozen times, however.

Harry Anderson, the demolitions expert. Rather small and wiry, Harry was almost blind without his glasses. He would go nowhere without his Grenade Launcher and Demo kit.

Finally the two grunts, Steve and Arnold Diamond. The brothers were about a month apart. Each was like his brother's shadow, watching his back. Both were crack shots with the Pulse Rifle.

With Harris and Jones as well, the squad was well-nigh invincible.

Harris was brought out of his thoughts by the entrance of Lieutenant Freeman, a grey-haired man whose strategies had kept them from losing men countless times.

"Good morning, ladies!" Freeman said, his hawk-like gaze traveling over each of them, "I trust you all slept well."

"Well actually sir, I've got this crick in my neck and-"

"Shut up, Anderson."

"Yes sir." Harris grinned to himself. On the battlefield they all followed Freeman's orders without question, but on ship banter like that was frequent. Over the years Freeman had become less like a Commanding Officer and more like a father to the marines on the _Verlanis._

"All right, ladies," said Freeman again, "I want you out to the hangar bay and prepping the gear ASAP!" As one the marines stood, saluted Freeman, and ran to their respective jobs. Freeman had given each man a job to do on their first mission and it'd been done the same way since.

Harris was lost in his own thoughts as he worked. He'd done this so many times he could do it in his sleep. He was just stepping out of the Power Loader when a voice shouted, "Commander on the deck!"

The marines fell in as Freeman approached, "All right men, this is a simple reconnaissance mission. We go in, see if anyone's left alive and then get right back out again."

Rigby spoke, "We're supposed to evac survivors?"

"If there are any. With Xenomorphs they've probably all got a bug growin' inside them already. Jones, what are we looking at?"

"Not much, sir. Power's still active but the whole place is deserted."

Anderson piped up, "I vote for an air strike, sir."

Freeman shook his head, "Negative, we're cleared for light and medium munitions only, which mean no Air Strikes and no explosions. Sorry Anderson. All right men, get suited up, we leave in two hours."

The Dropship shook as it fought the buffeting wind. Ghost peered at his friend, "You ok Jones? You're all pale."

"I've got a bad feeling about this mission, Ghost."

"I've got your back, man. We're gonna be fine." Just then the voice of Dart, the squad's Synthetic, sounded over each marine's comm-link, "Hold on tight boys, this might be a bumpy landing." The Dropship shook violently as it landed, and the ramp lowered as the Marines unstrapped and armed themselves before stepping out into the landing bay of the Weyland-Yutani compound on LV-312.


	3. Chapter 2: Entrance

Ok, I'm gonna try to pace this one a little better...

Extermination

**Chapter 2: Entrance**

**Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Population: Unknown

Hive: Unknown

Time: 1200

Incident: 6 Weeks

Ghost dropped into a crouch almost as soon as he set foot on the planet. With the image-intensifying scope of his WY-102 Sniper Rifle to his eye, Ghost quickly scanned the landing site. Seeing nothing, he rose and leant on his rifle, watching the other marines deploy.

"See anything, Ghost?" Ghost turned to see Jones beside him, studying the landing beacon.

"No, nothing. It's quiet." Ghost looked around the landing beacon himself.

The landing beacon was a courtyard style area, with a landing pad in the middle surrounded by blinking red lights. Doors lead off to other parts of the facility, while a small pit off to the side lead to a power generator.

Jones frowned, "Too quiet..."

Further conversation was cut off when Lieutenant Freeman strode out of the Dropship. Once the marines had assembled around him, he began issuing orders, "All right, Marines. The first thing we need to do is secure the Primary Operations complex. Harris, take Jones and Rigby and do that. Steve, you and Arnold make sure nothing reaches this ship. It's our only way off this rock. Anderson, take Hawkins and activate the automatic security systems. Everyone got that?" A chorus of **"Sir, yes sir!" **rang out, "Very well, Move out!"

Ghost's eyes flitted from one shadow to another, watching for any signs of movement. He knew that Jones' motion tracker would pick movement up long before he did, but it was a habit he'd picked up some time earlier, and he found himself doing it unconsciously. They'd been walking for about five minutes, following the signs leading to the POC, and they hadn't seen so much as a bug. The corridor wasn't very wide, so they had Rigby and Jones walking side-by-side, with Ghost behind.

After about ten minutes, Rigby frowned, "It's as quiet as the grave out here..."

Jones shivered, "Damn it, man, don't talk about graves. I have a horrible feeling they'll be digging ours soon."

Ghost rolled his eyes, "Lighten up, Jones. We've faced bugs before, remember? This is just another notch on our belt."

Jones let out a sigh, "I hope you're right, man..."

Anderson clutched his grenade launcher nervously. He and Hawkins had reached the security control room without incident, and were now simply waiting for the systems to activate. He couldn't explain it, but he knew they were being watched. He turned to Hawkins, who was standing by the door watching the shadows, "I've got a bad feeling about this, Hawkins..."

Hawkins turned a grin on him, "You've got a bad feeling about everything."

Anderson shook his head and glanced at the activation countdown. 10 seconds. He looked back at Hawkins, "I'm serious man. We're being watched."

Hawkins laughed at him, "Yeah, whatever man. You're just para-" His grin disappeared as he swung his Smartgun toward Anderson.

Anderson swallowed, "Wh-what is it, Hawkins?"

Hawkins thumbed the trigger lightly, "Move, Anderson."

Anderson, frozen with fear, looked up just in time to see a Xenomorph's second set of jaws darting for his skull.

He didn't have time to scream.

As soon as he saw the blood, Hawkins let out a yell and opened fire. The Alien's head and torso burst from the sheer amount of bullets being slammed into it. He didn't stop shooting or screaming until his friend's murderer was nothing more then a lump of black flesh. When he was satisfied he looked down at his friends body, his voice breaking slightly, "I told you to fucking move, you asshole."

Ghost jumped a little as Hawkins' voice came over the radio, "Anderson's dead. A bug."

He was quick to reply, "Where?"

Ghost could of sworn Hawkins' voice was cracking, "Security Control Room. The fucker's dead now, though."

Freeman's voice chimed in, "Hawkins, I want you to rendezvous with Harris' team. Everyone stay on your toes, where there's one there's usually others. Hawkins, can you tell us what type it is?"

Hawkins sounded uncertain, "Uh, I think it was a Drone, sir. The report said the new one's tan, right? It's not this one."

"Alright. Harris, how are things with your team?" Harris looked around quickly. They had successfully secured the main control room of the POC, and he had Jones and Rigby guarding the entrance, "It's all good, sir. The POC is secure."

Freeman seemed to consider for a minute, "Ok, the Landing beacon's auto guns are active. We're coming up. Freeman out."

An hour later, the marines gathered around a large digital map of the complex, searching for signs of the colonists. Rigby frowned, watching as Ghost moved the map, "So what are we looking for?"

Arnold looked up at him, "Each colonist had a chip surgically implanted. If they're alive, they'll show up on this map."

Steve suddenly pointed at a spot on the edge of the map, "Stop! Go back. Look, is that them?" Ghost zoomed in on the hundreds of flashing dots on the map.

Hawkins frowned, "Looks like a fucking town meeting."

Freeman shook his head, "It's a hive. Those colonists are as good as dead. We might as well return to the _Verlanis _and request an air strike." He began to turn away when Jones suddenly shouted, "Wait, Look! Who's that?" He was pointing at a flashing dot about three hundred meters from the hive, "He's moving..."

Ghost finished, "Right towards the hive," He turned to Freeman, "Sir, we have to try and save him."

Freeman considered a moment, "...Alright. Harris, you, Jones and Hawkins go find him. He's in the main area of the science complex. We'll keep you posted on his movements."

The three marines saluted and moved off to get ready.

As the prepped their gear, Jones looked over at Ghost, "We'll be heading pretty close to the Hive..."

Ghost just nodded, "Yeah. Don't worry about it, man. I've got your back."

Jones nodded a little, "Yeah, you're right. We'll be fine...But..."

Ghost looked at him, "But what?"

"I don't want to end up like those colonists, man. Make sure I'm dead before they get me, ok?"

Ghost laughed at him, despite his own gnawing worry, "We go through this every time, man. Yes, if it comes to that I'll kill us both. In case you hadn't noticed it's never come to that. We'll be fine."

Jones chuckled despite himself, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go kick some ass, eh?"

Ghost grinned at him as they turned to the waiting Hawkins and stepped out into the corridor.


	4. Chapter 3: Rescue

Extermination

**Chapter 3: Rescue**

**Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Population: Unknown

Hive: 20-30

Time: 1400

Incident: 6 Weeks

They'd been walking for about an hour and a half. According to Freeman they were only about ten meters from the surviving colonist. The narrow corridor they were moving down allowed them to walk only two abreast, so Hawkins and Jones were in the lead, with Ghost bringing up the rear. Ghost jumped a little as Freeman's voice broke the long silence, "Alright, he's stopped. Ahead of you is a service tunnel or an air vent. He's in there."

Hawkins grunted a curse, "I see it. This fucker better not have a bug in him."

"Shut up, Hawkins." Ghost growled, although he brought his rifle up to his shoulder; it was a subject of debate why Ghost insisted on using his Sniper Rifle for all purposes. In a firefight it should have been rendered useless. Then again, Jones would point out during these debates, it _is _Ghost using it. Indeed, Ghost could rack up as many kills with his rifle in a close-combat firefight as Hawkins could with his Smartgun.

"Fuck you, Ghost." Hawkins grinned, and then stopped in front of a service tunnel. It was small, and seemed to lead to an emergency supply room. Curious, thought Ghost.

"Fuckin' vent's too tight for anyone but you, Ghost. Jones and I'll guard your back, you go fetch our survivor." Hawkins grinned again, sweeping his Smartgun over the area.

Ghost sighed, handing Jones his rifle and cocking his ACP Pistol, "I know, I know. I'll be back in a minute." With another sigh, Ghost crawled into the tunnel, flashlight in one hand, pistol in the other.

"Hey!" he called, "If you're in there, I'm coming in! I'm with the USCM! I'm here to...help...you...Fuck." Ghost crawled into a small room with two lockers. One of which was hanging open. A Pulse Rifle dangled on its strap from the handle, slick with blood. An air vent was open, a small hole torn into it. Underneath it lay a human body, clutching a blinking data pad, with its chest burst out.

"Freeman, Harris here," Ghost spoke into his Comm. Set, pulling the pad from the corpse's hand, "I found our guy. He's dead, alien host."

Freeman's reply was static, "Da...get...here...hurry...we're getti...out of...is place."

"Commander, say again last message." Static... "Commander, say again. Fuck!"

Ghost was about to try again when the sound of gunfire erupted from outside the room. Automatically replacing his pistol for the Pulse Rifle and a few clips, he crawled hurriedly towards the corridor. Half way there the firing stopped, replaced by Jones' soft curses and gasps. Emerging from the tunnel, Ghost swept the area with his rifle before running to help his friend, "Jones, you okay?"

"Yeah...fucker splashed my arm when I gave him a pothole."

"What happened?"

"I don't fucking know. Hawkins and I were guarding the area, Hawkins gave out a shout and started shooting and I swung around. This huge fucking yellow alien charged at us, broke your sniper, took Hawkins and then disappeared. Fuck, Hawkins..."

"He's as good as dead...I lost contact with Freeman, we have to get back to the POC."

"Yeah...What's that?"

"Huh?" Ghost looked at the data pad in his hand, "The dead survivor had it."

"What's it say?"

"I dunno..." Ghost tapped a few buttons and wiped most of the blood off the screen:

THEY CAME DURING THE NIGHT. THEY JUST APPEARED LIKE MAGIC, SWARMING AND KILLING. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE. THE SCREAMS, THE BLOOD. I AM GOING TO DIE HERE. I HAVE ONE OF THOSE THINGS IN ME. IT ALL STARTED WITH THAT NEW SPECIMEN. IT KILLED LAURA, GEORGE AND AARON, THEN IT DISSAPPEARED. PEOPLE STARTED DISAPPEARING. MY WIFE AND DAUGHTER... I FOUND THEIR BODIES. EMILY AND LITTLE ERICA. THEY DIED IN EACH OTHERS ARMS. MY ONLY COMFORT IS THAT I KNOW I WILL JOIN THEM SOON. I FEEL IT, GROWING INSIDE ME. IT WON'T BE LONG. I'VE STARTED HEARING THINGS, AND GETTING GHOST READINGS ON MY TRACKER. I THINK THE PREDATOR RACE HAS COME HERE FOR THE ALIENS. IF ANYBODY GETS THIS...PLEASE. LEAVE THE COLONY AND BLOW IT UP.

THE PAIN. GOD, THE PAIN. IT WON'T BE LONG NOW. EMILY, ERICA I'M CO

"Shit. Well, at least he's with his family." Muttered Jones.

"Yeah. Now let's get back to ours."


	5. Chapter 4: Stranded

Just want to briefly break from the story to thank my reviewers, few as they are, for their comments. 

olgite the squidgal: ...Amusing? ...I'll take that as a compliment. Thankyou!

Sealink: _"Excellent work; your style is brutal and disturbing with more than a hint of dark humor. You certainly know how to play with your readers' emotions. Definitely looking forward to more of this; keep it up."_ Now that just made my day.**Brutal, disturbing and speckled with humor.** That's what I was going for. You're going to get plenty more, I still haven't thought of a conclusion to the story, yet.

If you read my story, I beg you to leave a review. They're what keeps me going. I've kept you long enough, ON TO THE ACTION!

Extermination

**Chapter 4: Stranded**

**Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Population: Unknown

Hive: 20-30

Time: 1500

Incident: 6 Weeks

An hour of walking in chilling silence was beginning to grate on the two men's nerves. Fear was beginning to set in. Jones' Motion Tracker had broken in the quick assault by the new species of Alien, so all they had to guide them were their eyes and their shoulder lamps. Ghost didn't even have the calming weight of his rifle, or the night-vision of it's scope. For all he knew they could be surrounded.

It had been quiet since they found the "survivor", but that only served to wind them tighter.

"It's too quiet," muttered Jones, for what seemed like the hundredth time, "Too fucking quiet. Where are they? We're like three hundred meters from the fucking Hive." Jones had begun to jump at the slightest noise, cursing and sighing in relief when it turned out to be something trivial. Without his beloved Sniper Rifle, even Ghost was losing his cool. The weight of the Pulse Rifle was comforting, but it was nothing to the sniper.

Another grueling hour, as quiet as the last, and the men began to ease as they strode down the dimly, lit corridor leading to the Primary Operations Complex. A variety of colored lights mocked them, winking uselessly on various pipes and rail, none of which held any meaning to the marines. They rounded the last corner, and immediately knew something wasn't right.

Where were the Diamonds? Shouldn't they be on guard? Almost in unison the two men put the butts of their rifles to their shoulders. Ghost took point as they neared the entrance to the room where the marines had set up base. The smell of death hit Ghost's nostrils hard, and he almost retched. They hadn't been gone four hours, how could the smell of decay get so strong? But, more importantly, what was decaying? He got his answer as he entered the control room. Mocking lights on the computer terminals flickered gleefully, oblivious to the horror around them. The marines, Ghosts brothers, had been slaughtered. Massacred. The corpses were unrecognizable, strewn about the room. Steve and Arnold Diamond sat beside the door. He knew them only by the remnants of an identical tattoo on the backs of their hands. Ghost swallowed hard as he studied the bodies. Not even the Aliens were this brutal. Half of Arnold's torso was gone, his face had been reduced to a gaping hole, and his left leg and half his pelvis and right thigh were gone. Steve was no better.

His attention was drawn away from the brothers by a crunching noise, and he raised his Pulse Rifle, training on a humanoid form squatting over the unidentifiable corpse of one of his brothers-in-arms, happily crunching on the remains of the man's face. Ghost didn't waste any time filling the thing full of explosive-tipped Armor Piercing rounds, relieved to have a way to expel his emotions. He didn't stop shooting until his clip was empty, but the firing continued. It was only then he realized Jones had done the same as him.

"Oh god, no. Fuck, no, no, no, NO!" Jones was sobbing openly, and Ghost was right behind him. Tears flowed openly as Ghost approached and studied the newest corpse. It was ripped apart, but Ghost could make out that it was basically humanoid. It's arms were long and spindly, soaked in blood. Tatters of...Skin? Hung on it's upper arms, and it's hands were large, hideous claws, at least twice the size of his own. It's head was...not there. Ghost had learned how to land pretty good headshots even without a scope. It seemed to be wearing a set of fatigues, and Ghost saw an ID card in a pocket. It looked familiar...

"What the fuck?" Jones was pulled from his grief by Ghost's voice, "What is it?"

"This...thing...I think it's..." Ghost passed the bloody ID card to Jones, who finished his sentence.

"Freeman. What the fuck happened here?"

"What were these scientists researching...?" Ghost slumped back against a pillar and sighed. The synthetic pilot was among the corpses, and neither Ghost nor Jones had any flight training. That meant they were stuck there.

"So...What do we do, Ghost?"

"We do the only thing we can do...Survive."


	6. Chapter 5: Brothers

**Extermination**

Chapter 4: Brothers

**Weyland-Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Population: 2

Hive: 40-50

Time: 1615

Incident: 6 weeks

"Fuck." It was the first thing Ghost had said since that last proclamation.

"What? What is it?" Jones' head snapped up and focused on his friend.

Ghost sighed and slumped against the only non-blood spattered pillar in the room. They hadn't been able to gather the strength or the will to drag themselves out of the room. Ghost probably wouldn't have moved if a bug walked into the room. However, none had. That was bugging him. They'd made enough of a racket, why weren't thousands of bugs descending on them? He could have sworn he heard them outside the room more then once. The skittering claws, hissing mouths... Two hours ago he could have said nothing frightened him more then a bug. Then he saw this. The sight of his commander, twisted, misshapen... Nothing could frighten him more then that.

"...Nothing. Fuck, I wish I had a pizza so I could throw it up. Why the fuck aren't we dead yet?"

"What do you mean?" Jones sounded puzzled. Depressed as well, but that was understandable.

"The bugs, man, the bugs! Why haven't they killed us yet?"

"Oh...shit...I dunno. I've heard them...I swear I have."

"Yeah, me too...think it had something to do with..." Unable to put it into words, the man simply nodded towards Freeman's corpse.

"I dunno...Maybe. Shit...We should find out."

"What?" Ghost stared at Jones, blinking.

"Look..." Jones leapt to his feet and walked to the holomap, followed slowly by Ghost, "See here..." He punched up the map and twiddled the dials so it centered on an isolated area of the facility, "This is the research center. I bet we'll find information there about what...happened." Ghost looked up at his friend and nodded. The look in Jones' eyes... Freeman had been a father to all of the Marines, but Jones was an orphan. Never having had parents, or family of any kind, Freeman had filled the role he'd been so long without. As for Ghost...Jones never ceased to remind him that, more than anyone, Ghost was his brother. Harris had to admit, he thought of Jones as his brother as well. Jones sighed, bringing Ghost out of his reverie.

"I'll find out what happened to my father..." Jones' voice was hardly more then a whisper, but Ghost heard well enough. He also caught the title Jones gave the Commander. He clapped his friend...brother, he corrected himself, on the shoulder.

"Come on, Jones. Let's get a move on."

Nodding, Jones spun on his heel, and the two began the loathsome task of collecting ammunition and personal items from the decease. All in all, it took them fifteen minutes to prepare and plan for their journey. The research center was situated on the opposite end of the facility from the Hive, which meant the two should encounter little to no Xenomorph interference. However, neither of them had forgotten the message on the dead man's data pad. If the predators were here...

Refusing to think about it, Ghost looked down at the motion tracker he found on one of the dead marines. No movement, apart from Jones cleaning off Rigby's minigun. It was a pain to loot the bodies of his brothers in arms, but it's a necessary evil. He glanced at Jones, "You ready?"

His friend looked at the floor a moment before hitching up the minigun, "Yeah...let's go." He strolled over to Ghost, trying to appear casual, and as one, they turned their backs on their former family...

An hour and a half, with another hour and a half to go. "Shit...Why does this fucking facility have to be so fucking big?" Ghost was at the breaking point, something that didn't happen often. It was too damn quiet. Jones, being the one with the bigger gun, was taking point, with Ghost watching the back trail. Currently walking backwards, scanning their rear, Ghost was trusting Jones to protect him, following his friend slowly at a walk.

"Almost there Ghost, don't wo-" Jones cut off suddenly. Ghost, still studying the back trail, didn't see what was happening. Jones wasn't shooting, so it didn't worry him too much, "What is it?" Satisfied that they weren't being followed, Ghost turned to see what was the matter. Then the shooting began.

(but you'll have to wait for the next chapter! Don't worry, it won't be long, promise.)


	7. Chapter 6: New Threat

**Extermination**

**Chapter 6: New Threat**

**Weyland Yutani Colony World LV-312**

Population: 2

Hive: 40-50

Time: 1745

Incident: 6 Weeks

The whir of the minigun's barrels became steady repeating shots as Jones ripped the corridor ahead of them apart with hundreds of small lead pellets. At first, Harris had no idea what his friend was shooting at, but then the bright green fluorescent blood began to coat the walls and he realised that Jones had seen what he could not: They were about to walk into a group of predators. Swinging his Pulse Rifle around, Harris prepped the gun's secondary function and lobbed a grenade down the hall. The explosion caused by this grenade was relatively weak, as the team had not been cleared to use standard rifle grenades within the compound.

The weak explosion was still sufficient to end the fight, as three tall predators came into view strewn on the floor. As he peered at the bodies, Harris look sideways at Jones, "How's your ammo coming?" Jones looked down at the gun and made a quick survey,

"Still got plenty. Rigby always overstocked ammo." He gave a weak laugh.

"Yeah...We better stay on guard, might be more of these things..." Harris had never been able to work out the predator's hunting pattern. Sometimes they worked alone, and sometimes they almost outnumbered the Aliens.

The two men stepped around the bodies and continued walking. As the men walked, Harris thought about what they were going to find out. He doubted the W-Y scientists would leave potentially illegal research out in the open, but maybe they'd find a clue in the "people friendly" labs.

It was an hour and a half long walk, and another half an hour to search the area and force their way into the locked down portion of the research centre. It was here that Weyland-Yutani researched the Xenomorph project, among other less-than-legal topics. Jones moved immediately over to a computer terminal and began trying to hack his way into the system, while Harris had a good look around.

The room was large and rectangular, with computer terminals and empty containment chambers lining the walls and set in the middle of the room. It was dimly lit by various lamps set around the rooms and the green phosphorescent glow of the tanks. The only sounds were Jones tapping keys as he attempted to access the system and an unidentifiable humming which seemed to emanate from one of the tanks.

It was towards this tank which Harris moved, as it did not appear to be empty. He had expected a Facehugger alien, or perhaps a Chestburster. The creature within the tank certainly resembled a facehugger, though it was slightly larger, had no tail and its strong legs more closely resembled weapons. He surmised that this creature could rip through skin with ease. As Harris circled around the tank he noticed that the creature's underbelly was unlike the facehugger as well. While the Facehugger had an extendable tube with which it would keep its victim breathing, the creature in the tank had three fanged 'mouths', which also appeared extendable.

As Harris was about to move in for a closer look, he was called back by Jones' soft curse. Harris moved quickly to his friend's side and leaned over his shoulder the see what he had found out. On the screen was a diagram showing the creature Harris had seen in the tank leaping at a human and attaching itself to his chest. The diagram was rendered helpless and quickly mutated into the creature the Marines had seen Freeman become. Under the diagram was a report, of which only one paragraph interested Harris:

**THE PARASITE LATCHES ON TO THE HOST AND RELEASES SOME FORM OF SPORE OR BIOLOGICAL TOXIN WHICH QUICKLY TRAVELS THROUGH THE BLOODSTREAM AND AFFECTS A RADICAL TRANSFORMATION. THE TEST SUBJECT MUTATED VISIBLY OVER THE DURATION OF HALF AN HOUR, AND AWOKE FROM HIS COMA IN A STATE OF VIOLENT INSANITY. WE HAVE YET TO DISCOVER HOW THE CREATURE REPRODUCES, AND THE TEST SUBJECT WILL REMAIN UNDER OBSERVATION...**

Harris looked back at the tank, scowling, "So...This is a new alien?"

Jones shook his head, "Just some Weyland-Yutani fuckheads playing god. The report keeps going, saying how this test subject became almost unstoppable, and useless shit like that. Look, we gotta get outta here and blow this fucking base to smithereens."

Harris nodded, responding with a dazed, "Yeah..." He could have sworn the creature in the tank had moved...


End file.
